Jason Paul, producer of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony, gave me a head’s up this week about a an upcoming concert on January 9 in Edmonton. In addition to a spectacular night of listening to classic videogame themes performed by a full orchestra, he let me know Morrowind and Oblivion composer Jeremy Soule will be attending the concert. Even better, 150 lucky patrons will be randomly chosen at the concert for a chance to meet the famous composer.

While I’ve missed out on attending previous concerts, fans I’ve spoke with have said it’s a fantastic show. For ticket ordering information to the concert, head here.

Wanna know Todd’s ritual on release day? Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft got answers from Todd, as well as other notable developers for a post titled “What Game Developers Do When Their Games Launch.” You can check it out here.

Finally, of all the Fallout 3 coverage I’ve sifted through, this has got to be the weirdest. At GameGrep, I found this clip where a guy is discussing his dreams on a radio station. Give it a listen, and within a few seconds, you’ll realize he’s pulling the DJ’s leg. I bet Three Dog is having a good laugh about this somewhere.

Ever wondered what it’s like to be a voice actor for a game? A couple of new Fallout 3 stories have popped up that shed some light on the topic.

This week at Planet Fallout, there’s a great interview with Wes Johnson (shown above), known for his memorable voice work in both Oblivion (Lucien) and Fallout 3 (Fawkes and Mr. Burke). Having met Wes at our Best Buy midnight launch event, I can tell you he’s a riot. Here’s a sample from the Planet Fallout interview:

Planet Fallout: Do you have space for ad libing or is everything very strictly scripted?

Wes Johnson: Sometimes. But for the most part, it’s all there in the scripting. Emil Pagliarulo is one of the best writers in games today. He has such a wonderfully dark sense of humor, and he writes games that he HIMSELF would want to play. Now, in regard to how you PLAY those lines, that’s another story. Bethesda has suggestions on how I should approach these characters, but they’re great at letting me experiment, and bring something new to the table. In Oblivion, I was asked to bring a Robin Williams manic quality to Sheogorath. But after thinking about the character, I felt a more Billy Connolly approach might work better. And since he was a schizophrenic character, and a Daedric Mad God to boot, I mixed the accents.

In addition to Planet Fallout, Wes and another Fallout 3 voice actor, Craig Sechler, were featured in a recent story in the Washinton Post entitled, “The Voices of Video Games.” If Sechler isn’t a household name for you, just check out his always-popular Oblivion character, The Adoring Fan.

Back in June, BGS forum member Fliggerty arranged a Morrowind modding competition aimed at encouraging newcomers to the game’s ever-popular modding scene. With the success of the competition, he started up a second invitational, which runs through January 5, 2009.

Like the first invitational, this one centers around making a house mod. But wait — there’s new categories and rules. Interested? To find out more, head to the Morrowind Mods board.

Recently, I’ve received requests — both from within the community and even at our office — that we should start posting screenshots taken by community members during their adventures playing our games — whether it be from Fallout 3, Oblivion, Morrowind, or another one of our games. So from time to time, we’ll be seeking themed screenshots for our Community Scrapbook.

This week we’re asking that you send along screenshots of the funniest character you’ve created in the game. Additionally, if you’ve got ideas for future editions of the Community Scrapbook, let us know.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! As we spend time with our families — stuffing our bellies with turkey and watching the Lions get trounced by the TItans, we’d like to give thanks to all of you for supporting us. THANK YOU!

Below are some additional reasons we’re thankful this holiday season.

Todd Howard: Big thanks to everyone out there who supports our games. And to all my teammates, thanks for making work a joy. We’re so lucky to be able to make games we love to play.

Pete Hines: This year I am giving thanks for the great people I get to work with,â€¨ Chick-fil-A, the start of college basketball season, Firefly vodka, Fiveâ€¨ Guys’ cheeseburgers, The Foo Fighters, finally having time to actually â€¨play games, and for having survived the last year and getting Fallout 3â€¨ out the door.

Matt Killmon, Video Producer: Thanks to my family, friends, and loving girlfriend for bringing me back to this coast. Thanks to Bethsoft for giving me this job (and my friends in QA who suggested I apply). Thanks to my co-workers for being severely awesome and making my first six months here an absolute blast. And of course thanks to all our fans on YouTube, GameTrailers, and around the gaming web for all the positive comments on the trailers, gameplay demos, and other videos I worked on — the encouragement is appreciated. Happy Thanksgiving!

How did you get involved with the Elder Scrolls modding community?
I have my uncle to blame for that, for leaving his copy out on his desk when I was visiting. I borrowed it for the evening, and a few lost hours later I’d already decided I was going to buy my own copy the next day. As it turned out, I was lucky enough to get the very last copy that my local games store had in stock. On installing it, I spotted the data files option in the launcher, visited the Elder Scrolls website to try and find out what it was for, spotted the modding forums, and things went downhill from there.

Until then I would often pick apart the data files from a game to see what I could change, but this was the first time I’d heard the term ‘modding’, or put any serious effort into it. I have to say that I’ve never regretted it for a second. Modding Bethesda games has become as much a part of the fun as playing them, if not more, and I specifically bought Oblivion and Fallout 3 with modding in mind.

Big news today! In a press release this morning, we announced the official editor for Fallout 3. Called the G.E.CK. (Garden of Eden Creation Kit), PC gamers will be able to mod Fallout 3 to their heart’s content. The G.E.C.K. will be free and available for download next month. More details to come.

We also announced three downloadable content packs for Fallout 3 — beginning with Operation: Anchorage, which will be available for download on Games for Windows LIVE and Xbox LIVE in January. In February and March, we’ll be releasing The Pitt and Broken Steel.

Below are descriptions for all three DLC packs:

Operation: Anchorage — Enter a military simulation and fight in one of the greatest battles of the Fallout universe – the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska from its Chinese Communist invaders. An action-packed battle scheduled for release in January.

The Pitt — Journey to the industrial raider town called The Pitt, located in the remains of Pittsburgh. Choose your side. Scheduled for release in February.

Broken Steel — Join the ranks of the Brotherhood of Steel and rid the Capital Wasteland of the Enclave remnants once and for all. Continues the adventure past the main quest. Scheduled for release in March.

To read the full press release, head over to the Fallout 3 Official Site.

As I expected, the release of Left 4 Dead has taken the office by storm. Our crack team of Team Fortress 2 experts are trading in their roles as Medics, Engineers, and Medics for the thrill of playing as disturbingly awesome zombies — like Boomers, Smokers, Hunters, and Tanks.

Of course not everyone is spending every possible hour playing Left 4 Dead — team members continue to play through Far Cry 2, Fable 2, Gears of War 2, and more.